Max doerfel



(No Model.)

M. DOERFEL.

HARMONICA.

N0. 449,755. Patented Apr. '7, 1891.

W'Zmass as 1 J W501; 3%7 501? 9W am (2% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAX DOERF EL, OF KLINGENTIIAL, GERMANY.

HARMONICA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,? 55, dated April *7, 1891.

Application filed December 10, 1890. Serial No- 8'74,Z0l. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAX DOERFEL, a subject of the King of Saxony, and a resident of Klingenthal, in the Kingdom of Saxony, in

the German Empire, have invented certainnew and useful Improvement in Harmonicas, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

Heretofore covering and protecting the reeds in harmonicas has been eifected by shields made of metal, wood, hard rubber, or the like,which were secured to either side of the base-board by means of screws, pins, or the like. Each reed-plate had to be covered by a special shield, the front and rear sides of which formed at the same time parts of the mouthpieces. This method of constructing harmonicas has several. disadvantages, among which may be mentioned, first, the necessity of covering each reed-plate separately; secondly, the amount of work and loss of time and money occasioned thereby; thirdly, the composition of the mouth-piece of no less than three parts-t'. 6., the baseboard, the upper shield, and the under shield--by which the lips of the blower sometimes were severely damaged, and, fourthly, the liability of the harmonica to get out of repair, inasmuch as the shields got loose and were lost, and consequently the reeds freed from any protection were bent and broken, thus rendering the whole instrument perfectly worthless in very short time. All these inconveniences have been entirely overcome by the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters denote similar parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical section taken on the line M M of Fig. 8. Fig. 2 is another vertical section taken on the line C C of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is an upper view of the harmonica. Fig. 4 is a front view of the same. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a modification.

The new instrument is constructed as follows: The base-plate a, made of wood, metal, papier-mach, rubber, celluloid, or any other suitable material, and provided with blowholes 2', carries at either side a reed-plate I), having longish openings 71, and rceds c, as

usual. Now, instead of covering the upper and under side of the harmonica each separately by a shield, a shell is formed of celluloid, xylonite, hard rubber, or any other artificial material, or of metal or papienmach, the breadth of said shell corresponding with the breadth of the base-plateand with the reedplates, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In thickness the shell exceeds considerably that of the other parts, so as to form sounding chambers by means of which the intensity, quality, and clearness of the tones are much increased and improved. The whole baseplate with its, appurtenances, is put into the shell and fastened to it nearly completely by the elastic force of the shell itself, but may be secured finally by means of screws or pins at its rear side. There are at the front side of said shell holes f, corresponding with those of the base-plate a, and the upper and under edges of the front side are bent somewhat inward, so as to form very convenient and comfortable places for the lips. Thus the mouth-piece is ready, consisting of only one piece of perfect smoothness and without the smallest projection, forming, as explained above, one piece with the two shields and with the rear side. The shell cannot possibly get lost, and thus no getting out of order of the music-work itself can happen, and all the inconveniences and deficiencies of harmonicas of the old construction mentioned in the preface are entirely overcome.

The properties of a variety of materials do not allow the manufacture of shells in one piece closed at all sides. In such cases the modification shown in Fig. 5 may be used. Instead of covering the rear side of the instrument too, the two ends of the shell may be bent horizontally and secured to the baseplate by means of rivets, as easily to be understood from the drawings. By this arrangement the same advantages are obtained as by the original construction. I

Having thus fully described the nature of this invention, what I desire to secure by Let ters Patent of the United States is- In a mouth-harmonica, the combination, with the base-plate a, having a reed-plate Z) Z1 at either side, of a shell d, consisting of one piece and covering the reed-plates, and the blow-holes t" in the base-plate, said shell forming the mouth-piece, the protecting-plates for 5 the reeds c, and the sounding-boards, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing' Witnesses. v

. MAX DOERFELt Witnesses:

OSCAR GOTTSOHALK, MAX GoLTzoLD. 

